The injury Friday night that left Vu Dang in critical condition was the second recent head injury suffered by the Escondido High football player. Dang's condition remained critical but stable Sunday as friends and family continued their vigil at Palomar Medical Center. Dang, 17, has responded to various forms of stimulation. He has recognized family members, squeezed his mother's hand and wiggled his toes. Dr.

Ram center Doug Smith will not play against the 49ers tonight after experiencing recurrences of symptoms of a head injury Sunday, and he may not play any more this season. Tony Slaton, a second-year pro, will start at center, playing opposite 295-pound 49er nose tackle Michael Carter, who is having a strong season. Smith, a Pro Bowl selection last season, was driving Sunday when he became nauseous and felt pain and tingling in his neck and arms.

A Marine Corps boxer is in critical but stable condition at the Navy Hospital in Balboa Park after suffering a head injury during the Armed Forces Boxing Championships, it was reported Tuesday. Cpl. Rickey Uzzel, 22, was taken to the hospital Thursday night after he was knocked down during a light-middleweight championship bout against the Army's James Crisp, said Julie Swan, a civilian public affairs officer at the 32nd Street Naval Station, where the bout was held. Uzzel, of Austin, Tex.

A new genetically engineered drug could increase the likelihood of surviving severe head injury by as much as 20%, researchers said this week. The new treatment could spell the difference between a job and independent living and life in a coma, or even death, for as many as 50,000 Americans each year, Dr. J. Paul Muizelaar of Wayne State University in Detroit told the Congress of Neurological Surgeons in Chicago on Monday.

Heavyweight champion Mike Tyson suffered a head injury when his car crashed on a rain-slicked road near his training camp Sunday and he was listed in stable condition, a hospital spokeswoman said. The 22-year-old champion was scheduled to undergo neurological tests at the Columbia-Greene Medical Center in Catskill, about 20 miles south of Albany, said spokeswoman Ann Grebert. The injury was the second in two weeks for Tyson, who hurt his hand in a street fight Aug. 23. "At 11:20 a.m.

High school football players often play hurt, just like the pros. But head injuries considered minor on the field can be serious. A team of researchers including neurologists and head injury specialists have developed guidelines, published Wednesday in the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, that would put safety first.

Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret M. Heckler today ordered a halt to a University of Pennsylvania research project on head injuries that animal rights activists say amounts to torture of baboons. Heckler said in a statement that the action was based on a preliminary report delivered to her this morning by a National Institutes of Health investigative team. The head of the NIH, Dr. James B.

For Redondo Beach attorney Douglas Black, "Regarding Henry" was not just another afternoon's diversion. "I looked at this (movie) and I cried," said the muscular 42-year-old Black. "I said, 'By God, it's me.' " Like the film's main character, Black, an attorney with a wife and daughter, suffered a brain injury that wiped out his memory and speech and paralyzed his right side. But unlike the movie attorney played by Harrison Ford, Black has yet to see a Hollywood happy ending.

A man with a knife came at 12-year-old Michael Marchica. The youth kicked the man's arm away and drove his foot into the attacker's stomach. An appreciative crowd clapped as the karate exhibition unfolded on a recent afternoon in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. Last month, Marchica earned his black belt, a sterling accomplishment for any 12-year-old.

Since June 11, life has been a blur for David Santos and his family. On that day, his 16-year-old son, Brett, had a skateboarding accident and was placed on life support at Children's Hospital at Mission with major head injuries. "It's a nightmare," the Mission Viejo resident said of the accident that left his son in a coma for two weeks. "My wife and I feel very hopeful. We trust he'll have a 100% recovery."